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Forced to resign. Now not releasing bonus. How do I recover the bonus?

Forced to resign. Now not releasing bonus. How do I recover the bonus?

I was forced to resign from my organisation in the month of January giving cost cutting the reason. But reality was that they wanted to hire an expat at double the cost. Now they are not releasing the bonus I had been committed along with part of provident fund.

Answers (1)

287 votes

If your job was of a supervisory nature, we suggest that you should send the Company a Legal Notice by way of Regd. AD and Speed Post for payment of your dues including bonus and PF within a stipulated time period or else you shall initiate legal proceedings.

In case the payment is not released by the company within the time period, you can then file a civil suit against the company for recovery of the said dues as debt. The amount payable to you is in the form of debt on the company and you can hence initiate an action for recovery of this debt. The court fee is about 2-2.5% of the amount you are claiming.

With respect to PF, you can also adopt the following method:

The Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has a grievance Redressal mechanism in place and it is covered under the Consumer Protection Act. The EPFO has become a part of the Centralized Public Grievances Redressal and Monitoring System, which allows you to register the grievances and track their status online. It is a centralized system, so all your complaints are also monitored by the head office and they endeavor to respond to all grievances within 30 days.

Any other grievance that you may have with respect to your EPF Account will also be addressed by the Grievance Redressal Mechanism. The EPFO's Grievance Redressal Website is

On the other hand,

If your nature of duties would come within the purview of "workman" irrespective of ostentatious designation adorned upon you, then you can file a case before the authority under the Delhi Shops & Establishment Act (if you are working in Delhi), who is the Deputy Labour Commissioner.

Applicability of the Industrial Disputes Act:

The Industrial Disputes Act extends to whole of India and applies to every industrial establishment carrying on any business, trade, manufacture or distribution of goods and services irrespective of the number of workmen employed therein. Every person employed in an establishment for hire or reward including contract labour, apprentices and part-time employees to do any manual, clerical, skilled, unskilled, technical, operational or supervisory work, is covered by the Act. This Act though does not apply to persons mainly in managerial or administrative capacity,persons engaged in a supervisory capacity and drawing > Rs.10,000 per month or executing managerial functions and persons subject to Army Act, Air Force and Navy Act or those in police service or officer or employee of a prison.

Alternatively, you can file a claim petition before the authority under Payments of Bonus Act and Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act. A labour court judge is generally designated for this purpose. Or alternatively, you can file an application under Section 33 C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act.

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